My daughter spent her semester abroad on a ship, Semester at Sea, that traveled around the world, stopping at a number of countries mostly through Asia and Africa. It was admittedly a parenting exercise in terror in that access to our children was limited and they were halfway across the world. My daughter went hot air ballooning, she jumped off a plane and a mountain, and she ventured to some areas of the world that are not known as safe for all who visit. 

Needless to say, I missed my daughter like crazy and I spent a bit of time worrying about her. (That may be the understatement of the century.) One day, I posted a picture on Facebook of my daughter in Morocco. She was holding a goat and was standing in front of a tree filled with goats. You must Google “goats in trees” to really get the full picture. Anyway, a friend commented that she was also in Morocco and wanted to see goats in trees.

Kiddingly, I asked this friend to find my daughter in Morocco and give her a hug. Not more than a few hours later, my friend told me that she had met my daughter’s best friend from the trip and given him a hug to pass on to my daughter. At essentially the same time, my daughter texted me a picture of my friend talking to her friend from the ship. If you’ve followed this so far, you deserve a prize.

Here’s the bottom line of this story…The world is small and filled with joyful people who make it smaller and more beautiful than many of us allow ourselves to believe. My daughter got a virtual hug from me in Morocco and my friend got to be the bearer of all that that hug implied. My friend is the mother of three daughters, so I know she understood how much I was missing my girl. She went out of her way to talk to a group of students who were apparently from Semester at Sea and happened to meet the person who was closest to my girl on the trip. Amazing!

The world seems awfully divided these days with lots of name calling, us versus them rhetoric, and divisiveness, but don’t give up on the real truth. Most of us are here to make the world happier and better. We seek love and kindness and want to share it with those we meet. We want to explore the world and other cultures and we believe that most of us are more alike than we are different.

Never give up on the fact that all it takes is a kind word or a hug from someone to make this world smaller and even more beautiful than we thought it could be. Also, who wants to come with me to Morocco to meet some goats in trees?

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC